About on Certification of Sustainable Seafood Products from Fisheries and Aquaculture - anchovies, caviar, clams, cod, cuttlefish, halibut, kingfish, mackerel, mussels, omega-3, salmon, seabass, bream, shrimps, squid, sturgeon, trout, tuna, turbot, fishfeed

Friend of the Sea is a registred non-profit non-governative organisation (NGO), founded in December 2006 aiming, by Statute, at conserving marine habitat and resources by means of market incentives and specific conservation projects.

Friend of the Sea was founded by Dr Paolo Bray, also European Director of the Earth Island Institute's Dolphin-Safe Project, the precursor of all seafood and fisheries certification schem, which managed to save millions of dolphins from getting targetted, bycaught and killed by the industrial tuna industry.

Friend of Tthe Sea is the owner of the Certification Scheme for products originating from sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. It is the only scheme in the world which can certify, with the same seal of approval, products both farmed and wild-caught.

Certified products from all continents include anchovies, caviar, clams, cuttlefish, halibut, kingfish, mackerel, mulloway, mussels, prawns, salmon, seabass, seabream, shrimps, squid, sturgeon, trout, tuna, turbot. Fishmeal, fishfeed and Omega-3 Fish oil have also been certified.

Sustainable seafood, products and their origins are audited onsite by international certification bodies, against Friend of the Sea criteria. Certficiation bodies currenlty auditing against Friend of the Sea criteria are Aqa, Bureau Veritas, IFQC and SGS .

Friend of the Sea Criteria are the only ones in the market which follow the FAO - Guidelines for the Ecolabelling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries. In particular, UNLIKELY the other international certification scheme, Friend of the Sea Criteria fulfills also Art 30 of the Guidelines, in that it allows certification only of products from fisheries targeting stocks which are NOT OVEREXPLOITED.

Criteria for Sustainable Fisheries require, among the others, that:
- the fishery targets a stock which is not considered to be overexploited according to the most updated stock status report from FAO, Regional Fishery Bodies or National Marine Authorities;
- the fishing method does not bycatch species listed in the IUCN Redlist;
- the fishing method does not discard more than 8% in weight of the total catch;
- the fishing method does not impact the seabed;
- the fishery complies with regulations (TAC, no IUU nor FOC, mesh size, minimum size, MAPs, etc).

Criteria for Sustainable Aquaculture require, among the others, that:
- an Environmental Impact Assessment or equivalent be run before the development of the plant;
- plant is not impacting critical habitats, such as mangroves, wetlands, etc;
- procedures are in place to limit escapes of fish to a negligible level;
- NO use of GMO and growth hormones;
- NO use of antifouling paints;
- Waste, Water, Feed and Energy Management are in place;
- Use of FriendOfTheSea certified feed (currently for trout, seabream and seabass)

Both Criteria for sustainable fisheries and aquaculture include recommendations on Carbon Footprint reduction and offset and Social Accountability.

Traceability is audited onsite, while a yearly traceability surveillance is run on all purchase reports.

Audit can last from several days up to one month, depending on the complexity of the audited organization. On-site audit is repeated every 3 years for aquaculture origin and every 5 years for fisheries origin. For fisheries origin, a yearly surveillance is run on stock status updates.

A Technical Committee is the only body which can create and modify criteria. It is and independent body, open to all those involved in the Seafood and fish feed / fish meal fields, composed of a balanced representation of all stakeholders (NGOs, Industry, Fisheries, Governative Organizations, Scientific Institutes) from all 5 continents.

Objection Procedures are in place and an Objection Committee is set up ad hoc depending on the field on which the Objection is filed.

Companies whose products have been certified are authorized to use the logo based on a Licensing Agreement. Standard Yearly fee is 3.000,00 Euros per product with same origin (a minimum of 5.000,00 Euros on first year - including Audit Costs). Friend of the Sea pricing can diverge from the above in case of particularly complex audit.

Friend Of The Sea Governance structure is slim in order to keep administration costs low and focus on project development, while maintaining a certification pricing affordable also to small scale / artisanal fisheries and producers.